Mice with a Human-Language Gene

May 29, 2009

Mice with a Human-Language Gene

They can’t talk, but they squeak differently.

Researchers have genetically engineered a strain of mice to carry
the human version of a gene called FOXP2, which has previously been linked to
speech. While other animals possess the gene, the human version varies slightly
from those of both mice and chimpanzees. (Neanderthals appear to have the same
version as modern humans.)

According to the New
York Times, “the human version of FOXP2 seemed to substitute perfectly for the mouse
version in all the mouse’s tissues except for the brain.”

In a region of the brain called the basal ganglia, known in people to be
involved in language, the humanized mice grew nerve cells that had a more
complex structure. Baby mice utter ultrasonic whistles when removed from their
mothers. The humanized baby mice, when isolated, made whistles that had a
slightly lower pitch, among other differences, says [Wolfgang Enard, a
scientist at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany, who led the work].

For more on the FOXP2 gene and the hunt for the genetics of
language, check out this Technology Review feature by Jon Cohen, “The Genetics of
Language.”

When Monaco, Fisher, Hurst, and coworkers reported the FOXP2
findings in the October 4, 2001, issue of Nature, it made
international headlines–and, more important, announced the start of a new era
in speech and language research.

Even then, the scientists knew that FOXP2 does not single-handedl­y
wire the brain for language. In the grand theater of the genome, it is cast as
a transcription factor, turning other genes on or off by telling them whether
to transcribe their DNA into messenger RNA, which leads to the production of
proteins. And FOXP2 has a broad repertoire in embryonic development,
playing critical roles in the formation of the lungs, heart, and intestines.